From BBC News, a fascinating discussion of the dangers and prospects of the pervasive use of algorithms in everyday life:
Behind every smart web service is some even smarter web code. From the web retailers – calculating what books and films we might be interested in, to Facebook’s friend finding and image tagging services, to the search engines that guide us around the net.
Particularly disconcerting is the use of algorithms in financial markets, powering high-speed trading as well as in producing cultural products like movies and music.